Who Is Afraid of Evaluation? Ethics in Evaluation Research as a Way to Cope With Excessive Evaluation Anxiety

In this paper we share our reflections, as evaluators, on an evaluation where we encountered Excessive Evaluation Anxiety (XEA). The signs of XEA which we discerned were particularly evident amongst the program head and staff who were part of a new training program. We present our insights on the evaluation process and its difficulties, as well as our suggestions for coping with them. We suggest that signs of XEA and its consequences can be reduced by means of developing a detailed contract based on clear rules that is acceptable to all parties (evaluators, evaluands, clients and stakeholders) and would address ethical as well as technical issues. Finally, we propose a guide for formulating such evaluation contracts.